


Girls and Dolls

by ineffectualInvader



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Illegal Fighting Ring Au, Illegal Mecha Fighting Ring AU, Infrequent Updates, Mecha Pilots AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:20:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3921019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineffectualInvader/pseuds/ineffectualInvader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which colorful twenty-somethings pilot giant robots in (literal) underground boxing matches of questionable legality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When Ruby left her uncle Qrow's dingy old shop out in the middle of nowhere, she'd honestly expected to find a decent job within the month. With four years of secondary schooling and two more of hands-on training from one of Vale's most highly respected robotics technicians, she'd felt certain that job offers would fall into her lap the moment she set foot in a technological paradise like Vale City.

And yet, half a year later, she's on her fifth deadbeat job, working the graveyard shift at a local diner like someone who didn't graduate high school at fifteen years old. She graduated top of her class from the prestigious Atlas National Robotics Academy, and now she's serving coffee to drifters at the butt crack of dawn.

Ruby's never felt like more of a loser.

It's the sociability thing, she thinks. She's never been good with people in ways she can't quite pin down. Maybe she's too exuberant. Maybe people just don't care for a girl who's too busy futzing about with machines to pay them any mind. She gets all up and tangled in gears and wires and pistons, and who has time for people when there's so much to do?

It was never too much of a bother at school. People are expected to care mostly about machines there. So what if she didn't go out to parties or hang with people outside of study groups? All it meant back then was that she was focused and determined to succeed. Her teachers had loved that.

And her uncle had adored her, as much as someone as cold and distant as him could, anyways. He'd had nothing for praise for her work ethic and drive, had always encouraged her to stay late and experiment, to improve on his designs whenever she could. She never felt out of place there.

Now she's always too much or too little, too open or too unsociable, too focused or too distractible, never 'suited for the work environment'. She suspects standards vary on a personal level, but if that's the case, how is anyone supposed to know how to act? How's she supposed to tailor her behavior if no one will tell her the rules? Or worse, if there are no rules to tell of?

She's never been so bereft of purpose before. She goes through her days with an almost mechanical rhythm; one two, wake up, three four, work out, five six, job hunting, seven eight, wait tables, nine ten, fall asleep. The days pass by in a monochrome blur, even fear and disappointment faded grey with repetition. Some days she finds it hard to force herself out of bed.

Today's one of those days.

Ruby rolls onto her belly and throws a glance at the clock, hastily mounted on her wall with chewing gum and prayers. 11:23 PM. She's going to be late for work. She groans and buries her face in her pillow. She's accomplished all of nothing today and it looks like that trend will continue if she doesn't get her butt up and haul herself to work. The walk'll give her time to think of an excuse. Or at the very least practice her groveling.

Her boss is gonna kill her.

Ruby topples out of bed and drags herself to the kitchen, grabbing what looks to be the cleanest pair of pants on her bedroom floor along the way. She performs a very dignified series of hops and squawks stuffing herself into them, dinging shoulders and shins against various doorframes and assorted debris.

She mutters neutered curses to herself as she fumbles for a light switch.

"Aha," she breathes. "Got you you little-"

She pauses, bleary. Light's already on. She flicks the switch off, then on again.

Hmm.

Either she left the light on all darn day, in which case her electric bill's just gone through the roof, or.

Or.

She fumbles for some sort of weapon, coming up with a rolled up magazine, and braces her shoulder against the wall.

"Who's there?" She shouts, scanning the room for missing or broken property. Not that she'd notice, given the clutter.

There's a clatter from the kitchen. Ruby swallows heavily and tenses, raising her makeshift weapon above her head.

There's a flash of gold and orange and then-

"Ruby! You're awake!"

"Yang?!"  
_________________________

Yang is roughly six feet of gorgeous, muscular Amazon with a lion's mane of waist-length, bleached-blonde hair, and she looks so very out of place in Ruby's grimy little apartment. As big as she is, she emits an aura of someone twice her size, the sheer volume of her confidence and charisma feeling almost like a physical presence in such a small space.

She wears cut-off jean shorts and a yellow vest that show off the broadness of her shoulders and the contrasting thinness of her waist. She looks wild and powerful and womanly in a way that Ruby can't help but envy.

She is also, Ruby is dismayed to note, still several inches taller than her, even after her frankly miraculous late-teens growth spurt. She uses her height advantage to roll Ruby into a playful headlock with accompanying noogie.

"Ow, Yang!" Ruby grabs for Yang's hands and aims a few kicks at her shins. Yang guffaws and rolls them both through the doorway and into Ruby's kitchen. They clatter against a folding table and bounce into the refrigerator with an angry screech.

Ruby wrenches herself free of Yang's grasp, only to be pulled back by a pair of strong arms around her stomach.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang growls. She wriggles her fingers against the underside of Ruby's ribs and Ruby howls with laughter.

The struggle drags on for several more seconds before Ruby goes limp, panting. Yang hums in satisfaction and plasters herself against Ruby's back.

"Missed you, lil sis." She mutters into Ruby's hair. Ruby snorts and pats at Yang's hands where they rest on her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah. Missed you too, sappy."

And she has, for all Yang is a big, flashy, woman-shaped force of destruction. She's always a shock to the system, but in a way that leaves Ruby reverberating with good feelings for days afterwards. She's just a bitter pill to swallow, sometimes.

Ruby wishes she could say she's shocked to find her in her apartment at this time of night, but honestly? Yang comes and goes as she pleases. It'd take a strong will and an even stronger door to keep her from crashing here. At least Yang's not blackout drunk this time. She thinks. Ruby doesn't smell vomit at least, and that's really the best she can expect to get.

She's come home to see her sister beaten black and blue, face down in a puddle of her own vomit, and she is glad for any meeting not tainted with that kind of terror.

True to form, Yang does not bring up their previous meetings, choosing instead to putter about Ruby's kitchen, pulling glasses and plates from cupboards. She offers Ruby a plate of slightly burnt grilled cheese and a glass of tap water with a face-splitting grin.

Ruby quashes the desire to return it and instead forces her lips into a tight line.

"You were cooking something, on my stove, in my apartment, while I was asleep. And did not know you were here." Ruby sighs, takes the plate from her sister, and places it on the counter. "Yang, you can stay here whenever you want, you know that. You don't even have to warn me. But I'd really appreciate if you took the time to tell me you're here. You scared me half to death, Yang!"

Yang screws up her lips and puffs out her cheeks. "Wruby!"

"Yang."

"Wruuuuby!"

"Yang, come on. I'm not messing around here! I'm late for work, my boss's gonna kill me, I don't have time for this!"

Yang holds her hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. You just looked tired s'all. I didn't want to wake you." She grabs a grilled cheese and hands it to her, a peace offering. "Eat. You must be starved."

"Yang, I-"

"Eat. And listen. You're not going to work today." Ruby scowls and tears into the sandwich with a little more force than is strictly necessary, but does not interrupt. "That job is killing you. You're tired all the time, you spend all day moping about, you can't even work up the enthusiasm to bore me with your nerd babble anymore. It's weird and wrong and it needs to stop. So," Yang raises one finger imperiously, "I'm gonna stop it."

Ruby finishes her second sandwich and swipes a third, her gaze fixed somewhere above and to the left of Yang.

"That's... A bit of an exaggeration, isn't it? And even if it weren't, not having a job would kill me long before this one would."

"Eehhn, wrong! Not having a job would leave you with no excuse not to take my money!"

"The fact that I don't know where it comes from is excuse enough for me."

Yang sighs, long suffering. "Just come with me."

"What? I just said-"

"And I just said you're not going to work. I'm taking you somewhere fun. You're going to have fun with your big sister. You'll laugh, you'll cry, we'll bond over a shared emotional experience, etcetera, etcetera." Yang jangles her keys in front of Ruby's face. "Let's get to going!"

Ruby pushes Yang's hand back and leans against the counter. She wants to go with her. She really does. It's been so long since she's done something just for its own sake, and whatever you can say about Yang, she does know how to have fun. Ruby's never failed to enjoy an evening with her sister before. Her natural charisma can lighten even the most dour of moods.

But still.

Yang jangles more insistently and raises her eyebrow in challenge.

Well. It's not like she's not already in trouble.

"Alright. Just let me get changed."

Yang whoops. "Alright! I'll be downstairs. By the yellow motorcycle. You can't miss it. See ya in a few!"

Ruby grins helplessly at her sister's retreating back.

"Yeah..."  
________________________

The city spreads out before them like a cross section of a mountain, concentric rings of technological growth spreading out from the docks like layers of sediment.

Ruby's apartment building squats like a boxy grey toad on the mountainous southern edge of the city, all the sleek plastic-compounds and metal. It's a starkly modern section of Vale, every iota of innovation dedicated to practicality with none of the grace or flair Ruby adores about engineering.

She supposes it does her no good to complain. It's good, cheap housing, something a city of this size desperately needs.

Yang's motorcycle roars as they blaze away from the neat, gridded roadways near Ruby's apartment to the narrow, winding passages of the city proper.

Modern constructions sprout like bright, angled flowers among the low brown toadstools of their elders. Ruby spots a crumbling old faunus temple resting beside an office building nearly seven times its height. A bright splash of green park slices through the narrow ally between a skyscraper and a sprawling, glass and steel conference building.

Yang steers them down increasingly narrow and crumbling pathways, more neglected than ancient. Ruby's seen absolutely pristine churches that have stood for hundreds of years at the city's heart. These places are more like atrophied limbs, the crumbling remains of failed ventures left to rot where they lay.

They stop in front of a small flat roofed bar, low-slung in a way that suggests that most of the structure is underground. Ruby gingerly dismounts the motorcycle and glances about, nervous. Flickering neon illuminates a man stumbling drunkenly down a narrow ally. A washed out hologram of a topless woman is stuck in a three second loop, bending low, opening her bright red mouth, and flickering back upright with a jolt of static.

Ruby takes a deep breath and smells salt and brine overlaying vomit and cheap perfume.

Yang claps a hand on her shoulder and grins. Ruby smiles weakly back.

"You know, there are decent bars near my apartment. If you wanted to drink."

"Hmm, not ones that have what this offers," Yang says with a wink.

Ruby blanches.

"Yang, if this is a drug thing, or, or, like a, a sex thing, then I am walking home, I swear to god."

Yang snorts. "Please, little sister. I know you better than that." She wraps an arm around Ruby's shoulders and steers her into the building.

"Have a little faith in me."

The bar's about as seedy inside as it looks from the streets. She breathes in through her nose, immediately regretting the flood of sour vomit and body oder that floods her senses. Ruby leans into her sister's touch, feeling a bit like a child thrown headfirst into the deep end.

Yang rubs soothing circles onto Ruby's shoulder. She flashes something Ruby can't see at the bartender. Cash, or maybe an ID? Ruby feels light headed. She wonders if this is what getting a contact high is like, or if it's just what she expects to feel like surrounded by suspicious smelling smoke and strangers at midnight in some dingy little tavern she's never been to before. She fumbles for Yang's hand on her shoulder and clumsily intertwines their fingers.

Yang smiles down at her, gentle and slightly apologetic. "It'll be all worth it soon," she whispers.

They descend a set of creaky wooden stairs and into what looks like a root cellar. Pallets of beers and casks of assorted alcohols make for a winding maze that Yang traverses with practiced ease. Yang halts them in front of a metal door, more modern than Ruby'd expect from a place like this. There's a card reader mounted to the left and a steadily blinking light of a security camera above.

Yang swipes a card and the door opens with a only the barest hint of a creak. It's well maintained, more so than anything else in this dump.

It opens to a room about the size of a closet, walls lined with some sort of insulating padding. There's a panel on one side of the door with all but three buttons removed. Yang ushers Ruby inside and presses the topmost button. The door closes with a faint whoosh.

Yang hums to herself, pleased, and checks her watch. "We're a bit late, but that's probably for the best! They'll have gotten past all the boring bits, anyways."

Ruby starts to reply but pauses, shaken. Literally. The lift's smooth decent should be almost imperceptible. Was almost imperceptible. She presses her ear to the walls of the lift and feels her teeth practically vibrate. She jolts back.

"Yang..?"

The lift jolts and quakes in short bursts. Ruby can hear a dull roar from outside. Yang reaches out to steady her.

The lift shudders to a halt. Yang motions for Ruby to cover her ears.

The doors open up to a solid wall of sound, a cacophony of human voices and the screaming and groaning and clashing of metal. Noise and light hits Ruby like a punch to the head, and she stumbles backwards into Yang. Yang hauls her upright and grins madly, gesturing towards the chaotic mass in front of them.

"Welcome to Beacon!"  
__________________

AN: Pardon the cliffhanger. When your first chapter gets to being 6k+ words and counting, one feels you might need to subdivide it a bit.


	2. Chapter 2

Ruby and Yang dodge through the insistent press of bodies. Or, well, Yang does most of the dodging.

Ruby's head feels full of static. Her gaze trails absently over what must be hundreds or even thousands of screaming citizens of all colors and sizes. Colorful lights flash in patterns she can't discern, and she imagines she hears a pulsing bass hidden beneath layers of noise. A flickering hologram whizzes past her face, urging her to place her bets, numbers rattling off her like hailstones.

It's been quite some time since she last exposed herself to such an overwhelming environment. She clings to her sister's hand like a lifeline and allows herself to be dragged somewhere, anywhere, she doesn't care, so long as it's not here.

Yang clamors atop a platform raised a few feet higher than the rest of the stands and hauls her sister up after her.

It's like diving underwater, Ruby thinks. There's an immediate relief as the roar of the crowd becomes dim and indistinct, replaced with an odd sort of pressure against her eardrums. It's not exactly pleasant, but Ruby isn't complaining.

Yang hauls her upright and brushes her off, inspecting her for damages.

"You okay, Ruby?" she whispers.

Ruby groans and rubs at her temples for a few seconds before nodding. "Just give me a bit."

Yang steers her into a chair near the center of the platform and chases the other patrons away from her.

"I don't usually come down from the tavern," she says. "The closest private entrance would have taken like forty more minutes to reach... And, it's a pretty damn good view for being down in the pits, yeah?"

She rubs at Ruby's shoulder anxiously. "The noise dampeners aren't hurting you, are they? Some people have issues with them..."

"'M good, 'm good." Ruby breathes out heavily through her nose. "Blugh. Noise dampeners, eh? Gross. What did you bring me here to do? Besides make me ill, I mean."

Yang makes a face and gestures vaguely to the front of the platform.

They're in an underground stadium, Ruby's figured out that much. Rows of bleachers ring a long ovular stage lined with what appears to be a thick layer of sand. Long gashes and scuff marks expose glimpses of dull grey metal. Monolithic machines are placed at each cardinal direction, possibly shield projectors or noise dampeners of a much higher caliber than the one shielding their little platform.

And posed on either side of her, two massive figures shifting restlessly on the sands.

She feels the tension, even from behind the noise dampeners that bend the air like heat waves off asphalt.

It appears she's caught the end of some sort of standoff.

They're obviously combat drones, but certainly not like anything Ruby's ever seen before. They're all flash and pomp, none of the rigid practicality Ruby's used to in machines that large. They look like toys, like cartoons, like something five-year-old-Ruby would have slammed against her dolls while making rocket noises with her mouth.

The one on Ruby's left especially. It stands nearly sixteen feet tall, bipedal, with an oddly effeminate humanoid figure. Broad feet and sturdy legs taper up to narrow shoulders and delicate arms, its carapace of glimmering semi-translucent parasteel woven over dull grey struts in delicate lacy patterns. Folded arms like short wings branch off from sturdy hips. Rockets, or some kind of heat sinks, Ruby'd guess.

There's a noticeable dent to its hip, and as Ruby watches, it struggles to balance itself on an unresponsive leg.

Sixteen feet is unreasonably big for a machine like that, but it's dwarfed by the mech on Ruby's right, which, while only a few feet taller than the white robot, has a body length of what looks like a little more than twice its height. It's balanced on six sturdy legs, jointed oddly, almost like a cat's, with a slinky, segmented torso that gives an it almost organic range of motion. It's a boldly faunus kind of design. Ruby'd be nervous piloting that thing, at least back in the boonies with her uncle Qrow. Maybe Vale's different.

Its viewport is obscured with some sort of dull grey liquid, and several secondary sensors appear otherwise damaged or obscured.

Ruby trails forward, pressing herself against a rickety looking rail. The pressure on her eardrums intensifies. She rolls her jaw irritably, but does not back away.

The black machine coils and leaps forward with more speed than anything that big has any right to posses. The little one tenses but falters, its bum leg weighing it down. Two tusk-like protrusions catch the little bot on either side of its leg -the bad one, Ruby notes with a wince- and, with a rippling full body motion, tosses it bodily into the air.

Yang whistles, low and appreciative. "Dang, that's a bold move for Blake. She usually plays it pretty conservative. Wonder if they're fighting again?"

"Blake?" Ruby says, not taking her eyes off the action.

"The one in the black bot. Gambol Shroud. Weiss's in the little one, uh, something foreign. Myrtenastor? Yeah, that's it." She glances about for a bit, then points to something hanging from the rafters.

Ruby tears her gaze away from the battle for a second and looks up to see two full-body holograms busily glaring at each other overhead. Two women, one tall and dark, the other short and pale.

"Weiss's the little albino with the angry eyes."

"Albino?"

"Maybe, I dunno." Yang shrugs and frowns. "Don't actually know much about her at all. She's not the most open of chicks. Neither is Blake, but she's at least polite about it."

The little bot -Myrtenastor- twists in the air, the blades on its hips extending and ejecting short bursts of energy. The edge of its shoulder catches against something Ruby can't quite see with a shower of sparks and an obnoxious ringing sound that sets Ruby's teeth on edge. It lands heavily, stumbling onto one knee.

"You know them personally?"

"Well yeah. They're my coworkers."

Ruby does a double take. "Wait, what?"

"Oh yeah, did I not mention that? Me and Ember Celia are the best thing that ever happened to this dump!" She grins and thumbs her nose.

Ruby lets out a little puff of laughter. "This is your big secret job? You couldn't tell me about your, your, mecha boxing gig? Jeez, Yang, I thought we were pals!"

Gambol Shroud scrabbles for purchase, kicking up clouds of dust with every step. It casts about with its 'head', trying to get a good view of the field through a viewport now obscured with liquid and caked on grit. Myrtensator struggles to rise but crashes back to earth with the sound of rending metal. Gambol Shroud whips towards the noise. Its body tenses for another charge.

Myrtenastor braces its left arm against the ground and holds out its right in a placating gesture.

Gambol Shroud leaps forward, only to be thrown back with a burst of multicolored light.

Ruby whoops and leans over the railing, craning her neck for a glimpse of whatever repulsor could toss a forty tonne machine about like that.

Yang laughs and pats Ruby on the back. "Glad to see you're having fun."

Ruby grins so wide her face aches and nods enthusiastically. "This is fantastic!"

"I know, right?" Yang says. "Listen, I'm gonna go do a thing, wait right here for me, kay? Oh man, if you think this is good, just you wait and see." She turns and jogs off into the crowd.

Myrtenastor wrenches up and back, stumbling about drunkenly. Gambol Shroud mirrors it on the other side of the field, all six of its limbs waving wildly.

Ruby cups her hands and screams encouragement, pressing as close to the noise dampening field as she can manage.

Ruby feels a presence at her side. "That was quick-" She turns and sees a man she doesn't know. A tall man. Even leaning against the railing, he towers over Ruby. He's tall but not big, not in the way Yang is big. Not even in the way that Ruby is big. There's a curious delicacy about him, writ in the lines of his face and the careful way he moves. He's dressed in a full, charcoal grey suit, even in the heat and grime of the stands. Ruby swallows and tugs at the collar of her ragged old tank top. He's ridiculously composed for someone so overdressed.

"Oh, uh. Sorry. Thought you were. Uh. Someone else."

"Well. It would appear that I am not anyone but myself. You can call me Ozpin." He extends a hand. Ruby stares for a few seconds, taken aback, before jolting into action. She grasps his hand with perhaps more force than necessary.

"Uh, hi. Ruby... 's my name! Wow, you're, uh. Formal."

Ozpin looks at her over the rims of his spectacles. Ruby resists the urge to squirm under his gaze. "Uh, so. Who're you rooting for?" She asks.

He turns his gaze back to the ring, much to Ruby's relief. "Neither. I am only hoping for a good fight. The outcome is of little importance. How about you?"

"Oh, uh, I don't know, really! This is my first fight, and, wow, they're both just really cool machines, yeah? I mean, I had my misgivings about the little one, Myrtenastor, but I think it's actually a pretty solid bit of engineering you know? It's got to be tricky to make something all pretty like that and still keep it functioning as well as it does! Humanoid figures at that size should be a lot more cumbersome than that thing, and wow I'd give my left arm for a look at its inner workings. And the other one, Gambol Shroud, it's just so darned organic, you know? It's a lot more practical a figure that Myrtenastor, but it's still got more grace and style than any other mech I've seen before! Do you see how stable the cockpit is, even with it moving about like that, wow, it's just so-"

Ruby flushes. "Oh, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to geek out at you like that."

"I rather think you did." Ozpin says with a nearly imperceptible smile. "It's no bother. You're very passionate. It's.. endearing."

"Well, yeah. Machines are my life. I'd do anything to work with high level tech like this."

"Anything?"

Ruby gently swipes at his arm.

"Oh, you know what i mean. Not anything. Close. But not anything."

"And what exactly are your limitations?"

Ruby hesitates, suddenly wary. He's an oddly compelling man, but that doesn't make him trustworthy. His interest in her is starting to grate. She looks about, hoping to catch a glimpse of Yang in the crowd.

"... What's it to you?"

"You seemed keen on sharing. You don't have to talk if you don't want to."

Ruby grits her teeth and scowls. It's one thing to be pushy without realizing it. It's another thing entirely to deny any involvement like that. She steps back from the rail and braces herself, ready to run or throw a punch as needed.

"Maybe I don't."

The man hums a little and turns back to the action, his pose completely and utterly relaxed.

"It's wise to be a little wary of others' intentions." He says.

Ruby follows his gaze back to center stage, where Myrtenastor and Gambol Shroud are busily trying to rip each others limbs off. Myrtenastor grabs hold of Gambol Shrouds forelimbs and wrenches them in opposite directions. Ruby hisses through her teeth.

"It's a dangerous world, after all."

Ruby glances back at the man, only to find him gone. She whirls, catching his back melting into the crowd. She's not certain whether she should be relieved. She settles for confused.

"What the heck was that about?" She mutters to herself. She curls her arms over her chest and rubs at the goosebumps forming on her shoulders.

She suddenly feels very alone.

When Yang returns several minutes later, brandishing a keycard and grinning ear to ear, Ruby makes a concerned effort to shake off her funk. It's not fair that some random jerk can just ruin her night like that, and it'd be even worse to let him ruin Yang's.

Granted, Yang isn't the most sensitive of folk. Ruby's half certain that she would have to be outright bawling for Yang to get an accurate read of the mood. This thought makes her smile a bit more genuine as her oblivious sister drags her through the crowded stands and hustles her into another lift, this one with five operable buttons.

Their decent takes a solid minute or two, indicating either a deeper decent than Ruby'd expect or an exceptionally slow lift. Either way, Yang spends the entire trip bouncing on the balls of her feet, a sight that does much to lift Ruby's mood.

A short jot from the lift, down a narrow passageway lined with pipes and discarded equipment, Yang halts them at a door labeled "maintenance". She swipes another key card, then pauses. For dramatic effect, Ruby assumes.

Yang glances at her sister and grins, all teeth.

"We call this the Stable!" Yang declares, opening the door with a grandiose sweep of her arms.

It's not exactly the most impressive of sights, but Ruby dutifully gasps and gawks anyways.

It's something like a retooled car park, one of those multi-story affairs dug out under shopping centers and busy hotels, lit with a dim smattering of fluorescent lamps, mostly focused on the open center of the area. A spiraling shelf of concrete sprouts out from their right and trails along the walls, ramping up into a shadowy haze where the light fades.

Yang informs her that the upper levels are where they store "machines and parts and junk". Ruby cranes her neck and imagines she can almost see their outline in the dark.

Yang leaps about like an overeager puppy, bounding ahead before jogging back and tugging at her arm. Ruby giggles and takes each step like she's wading through a waist high lake of pudding, stopping every ten feet to peer at scattered equipment.

"Wow, Yang, what's that over there? Is that a forklift I see? This merits closer inspection, I think."

Yang whines and tugs futilely at Ruby's arm.

"Wow, Yang, does it feel like gravity's increasing to you?" Ruby goes limp, listing heavily against Yang's side.

Bravely shouldering the burden, Yang hauls her sister over her shoulder and continues onward.

"Come on, you just got to look at it you little brat."

It's difficult to avoid looking at it, given the size and eye searing color, but Ruby makes a valiant effort.

"Hmm, do you mean that TIG welder over there? I dunno, Yang, looks a bit outdated-"

Yang makes a noise that Ruby can only describe as an audible pout before manipulating Ruby into a standing position and shoving her forward.

Against the left wall, partially eclipsed by a disjointed mess of tools, equipment, and half-dismantled scaffolding, hunkers an absolutely massive mech, painted in eye-searing shades of yellow and orange.

Yang gestures between the mech and Ruby irritably.

"Ember Celia, my precious baby sister. Ruby, my precious giant robot child."

"Yang, that thing is ridiculous." Ruby says.

The engineer in her has nothing but complaints. Even at first glance she can tell that the thing is hideously inefficient. Too big for the speed or delicacy of the other 'bots, it's a dingy old unbalanced mass of metal that Ruby strongly suspects started life as two bulldozers hastily welded together and equipped with massive, low hanging gorilla arms. And of course someone like Yang would think slopping bright paint over dents and scratches would fix them, of course she wouldn't take into account the inherent structural weaknesses of something that huge, of course she'd send that thing careening into battle with a grand crescendo of shrieking metal and protesting engines. Lord above, at least the poor thing's got treads. Heaven only knows how ungainly a thing it'd be propped up on two legs, like a bull of stilts.

It's a hideous piece of work that any engineer worth her salt would send to the scrap heap without a second glance, but, heaven forgive her, she's in love.

"What, no she isn't! Don't listen to her babe, we both know you're awesome."

Yang coos and pets at one massive tread, soothing the bot like it's a baby and Ruby feels her stomach coil in on itself.

"Hey, Yang? That's a mech, right?"

"Of course! I mean, what the hell else could it be? What kind of operation do you think we're runnin' here?"

"I just. Even an SI at that size... I don't know, Yang." Ruby grits her teeth and shakes her head, feeling a headache brewing somewhere behind her eyes. "I don't know! I mean, what kind of operation even are you running?"

Yang pauses for a second, clearly taken aback. Her hands trail absent-mindedly through her hair, a nervous quirk Ruby recognizes from their childhood.

"So, yeah. This place isn't exactly on the up and up. I'm not gonna insult you by pretending it's not a bit sketchy."

A quick flurry of laughter burbles up from Ruby's chest. "Cool. Great. Would have been nice if you'd warned me beforehand, but, yunno. Whatever."

"It's not like you're gonna get in trouble or nothing. You're not doing anything illegal, so, whatever." Yang says with a dismissive hand gesture.

"Great, good to know. Thanks. No, wait, not thanks. That's not the point, Yang."

"Then what is the point? I'm trying to help you out here, Ruby! Just, I dunno, give me something to work with!"

"Help me? What happened to 'you should be fine on your own'? I don't mean this to be mean, but you're not exactly the helping type, Yang!" It comes out louder than Ruby had intended, and she flinches back a little, biting back the urge to apologize. Maybe she's being harsh, but she's mad and tired and it's only just sinking in how much trouble she's going to be in tomorrow. And besides, Yang can take a little venom.

"Well, maybe I'm not stupid enough to keep at something that's obviously not working! Maybe I wasn't in such a good position to help out before this! Maybe I'm making a goddamned effort here, Ruby."

"It was working just fine! I'm doing fine on my own, just like you said! I don't need any help, and certainly not," she gestures vaguely, at a loss for words. "whatever this is."

"This? This is me giving you what you want! Wow, check out all these awesome robots, all in need of near constant repair! I wonder what my techhead little sister could possibly want out of all this? Geeze, who knows? It must be that I'm just a terrible sister!"

Ruby grits her teeth and glares over Yang's head at Ember Celia, feeling vaguely embarrassed to have even an inanimate hunk of metal as a witness. Her hands are shaking. She tucks them into her armpits and swallows heavily.

"You're not-"

"Ruby, I-"

They both jolt at the mutual interruption. Yang lets out an undignified snort, and Ruby settles, her gaze falling down to graze the top of her sister's head. It's about as close to eye contact as she thinks she can manage.

"I'm sorry." Yang says, after a time.

"Yeah." Ruby sighs.

Yang chuckles and rubs at the crease between her eyes.

"Look, maybe I haven't been the best sister to you before. I always figured that you oughta be able to take care of yourself, and that you wouldn't appreciate me butting in, especially with me doing what I do, and I know you don't approve of that kind of... never mind." She shakes her head and starts towards Ruby, taking gentle, cautious steps. Like how you'd approach a wounded animal, Ruby thinks with a curious rush of irritation. "I always figured that you felt like that because that's how I feel, and maybe it's hard for me to figure out what's going on in your head sometimes. Maybe I don't understand how you work as well as I think I do, and, and. And maybe I want to get better at it. Maybe I want to give you what you actually need, and not just what I think you need."

"And what do I need?" It's irritatingly close to a whine, and Ruby seethes. She hates being angry, she's not good at angry. Her voice pitches upwards with her rage till even she can't take herself seriously, much less someone like Yang, who views every little thing as a joke. Ruby's nails bore angry crescents into her palms. She's such an idiot, she thinks, throat going tight and tears prickling the backs of her eyes.

"I don't know, I just said that! But, yunno, a half decent job would be a start, I think. Listen, my boss, he's a cool guy, I've talked it over with him, and if he likes you, well. He'll definitely like you, he's a weirdo, you're a weirdo..." She swallows and shuffles her feet, disarmingly vulnerable. "You'll have weirdo chemistry together. It'll work out. Just. Trust me. Please."

Ruby doesn't trust her, and that's the problem. She loves Yang, adores her, but she doesn't trust Yang, hasn't since the first time she left her to flounder on her own. She doesn't doubt that Yang wants the best for her, but that doesn't mean she can't hurt her. She does it all the time. All the secrets, all the lies, all the times she's just cut herself out of Ruby's life only to reappear like nothing's happened months down the line.

And this. All that this night has shown her is that Yang hasn't changed, maybe can't. And maybe Ruby doesn't want her to, if the attempt is as painful as this.

Mercifully, the awkward silence is broken with a quiet cough.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything here." The man from the arena, Ozpin, says with what Ruby imagines is a smirk. Ruby bites her lip with a wince, wondering exactly how long he's been there.

"Ah, boss." says Yang. "Haha, nah, we're all good. Uh, this is Ruby, the girl I was telling you about! Yunno, the mechanic?"

"We've met."

"He was in the stands. When you were gone." mutters Ruby at Yang's questioning glance.

He could have the decency to look a little awkward, Ruby thinks ruefully, swiping discreetly at her eyes. He sidles up to Yang, as unaffected as he was in the arena, and gives her a sidelong look.

"I do feel a certain, how did you put it, Yang? Ah yes, I do indeed feel some sort of 'weirdo chemistry' with Miss Rose. Cutting to the chase, I would like to hire you, full time, to perform maintenance on the machines housed in this location, and perhaps some short trips to other locals. As it suits you, of course." He holds up his hand to silence protests that Ruby's too stunned to give. "Now, I understand that this is a touch unorthodox, and that... tensions are running high. But, if you would give me this opportunity, I would like to discus your future with you."

He offers her his hand, and Ruby takes it with some hesitation. He's definitely a weirdo, but at least his interest in her has an innocuous origin. And Ruby can hardly hold someone's lack of social grace against them.

And, well. He's offering her a job. A sketchy job in a sketchy place, but it's the first offer she's had in a while, and it can't hurt to at least hear the guy out.

Ozpin gives her a satisfied smile, and gives her hand a firm shake. "Excellent. Now, if you would come this way, we can discus things in my office. Are you hungry? I'll call for some food."

Yang starts forward and says, "W-wait, I think I probably ought to be there. To help out, yunno?"

Ozpin glances at Ruby and shrugs. "Ruby?"

"O-oh! Um, no, thanks. I can handle it, right?" Her gaze zigzags between Ozpin and her sister. "Yang, you should go back and see the end of the fight! Um, you, you should tell me who wins, okay?"

"Oh, all right. Sure." Yang trails off, looking forlorn. "Treat her good, boss." She says, before turning on her heel and marching off.

Ruby feels a surge of guilt as she watches her sister's back. She's going to have to do some damage control tomorrow.

Ozpin gestures Ruby towards a small door opposite from Yang's departure. At least something can be salvaged from this night, Ruby thinks, feeling a rush of determination.

Only so many bad things can happen before something good, right?


End file.
